In recent years, (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,763), sophisticated armors have been developed to replace the massive walls previously relied upon to protect a fortified space, such as the interior of a military vehicle, e.g. a tank, against attack by projectiles from without.
These sophisticated armors have been, for example, structural armors, comprising multiple layers of reinforcement which have to be removed successively before penetration into the interior is possible, and active armors in which the several layers are provided with respective charges which can be set off upon the approach of a projectile to cause premature explosion of the projectile or deflection thereof and thereby prevent significant damage by the attack.
A number of systems have been developed to overcome entirely or in part the advanced protection afforded by these multilayer armors, and one such approach is described, for example, in the commonly owned German application No. 2 948 542 and the aforementioned U.S. applications.
In this system, a projectile directed at the armored vehicle is provided with a plurality of inertial or impact members adapted to strike the target in succession in a main attack direction. This projectile can be provided with an auxiliary charge, i.e. a charge which is not originally used to propel the projectile assembly from the barrel of the weapon, to accelerate a leading inertial or impact member relative to the trailing inertial or impact member.
This system, whereby two inertial members successively, i.e. in time-spaced sequence, strike the same target along essentially the same line of attack, has proved to be of advantage, especially against active armor in which the first projectile can eliminate the defense while the second projectile can pierce into the armored space.
However, while this arrangement has been found to be effective for the purposes described, it has not been completely satisfactory since the firing of the auxiliary charge is complicated by the configuration of the projectile and, when the charge must be accommodated as described in that application, the main member is so weakened as to decrease its effectiveness in attack against the target.